Shark Fins To Get Protection

U.S.& Latin America - U.S. News to Note

December 27, 2000

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton signed a bill Tuesday that bans the practice of cutting off shark fins -- a culinary delicacy in Asia -- and throwing the dying fish back into the sea. The legislation is aimed mainly at Pacific Ocean fishermen supplying fins to Asian markets, where they are prized as a specialty and thought to be an aphrodisiac. Shark fin soup can sell for as much as $100 a bowl in some Asian countries.